David Y. Ige

HONOLULU – Hotels in the Hawaiian Islands earned more revenue per available room (RevPAR) in November at $190 (+5.5%) compared to a year ago, according to the Hawaii Hotel Performance Report released today by the Hawaii Tourism Authority (HTA). Additionally, both average daily rate (ADR) in November at $243 (+1.4%) and occupancy at 78.5 percent (+3 percentage points) grew year-over-year.

HTA’s Tourism Research Division issued the report’s findings utilizing data compiled by STR, Inc., which conducts the largest and most comprehensive survey of hotel properties in the Hawaiian Islands.

Jennifer Chun, HTA director of tourism research, commented, “November was a good month for hotel properties as a whole, as RevPAR increased statewide and for each island county, most notably on the neighbor islands. These across-the-board increases help support jobs and families in each county and generate increased state tax revenue, which ultimately helps to fund community needs statewide.

“The biggest eye-opener for November were the impressive results reported for Midscale and Economy Class hotels, with RevPAR jumping by 18.4 percent and occupancy by 10.1 percent. That kind of increase in occupancy is phenomenal considering that tourism in Hawaii has been thriving in recent years. It’s a sign the industry did an effective job in attracting price-conscious travelers, especially to Oahu where the increase in occupancy was 12.9 percent.

“Year-to-date, hotel properties on the island of Hawaii and Kauai continue to report the strongest rate of growth in both RevPAR and occupancy. Occupancy for Kauai hotels has risen to 76.8 percent and for hotels on the island of Hawaii to 74.3 percent, meaning the gap between these islands with hotel occupancies on Oahu and Maui has closed considerably this year.”

As seen in the accompanying tables, all classes of hotel properties in Hawaii earned more per available room in November compared to a year ago. Midscale and Economy Class hotels charted the highest RevPAR growth statewide for November to $111 (+18.4%), boosted by growth in both occupancy at 79.1 percent (+10.1 percentage points) and ADR at $140 (+3.3%).

Upper Upscale Class properties statewide achieved the highest occupancy rate at 83.6 percent (+1.2 percentage points) in November, however, ADR for this class of hotel properties remained unchanged from a year ago.

All four island counties in Hawaii achieved higher RevPAR in November year-over-year. Hotels in Maui County recorded the highest RevPAR at $236 (+6.5%), supported by growth in both ADR to $314 (+4.7%) and occupancy at 75.2 percent (+1.2 percentage points).

Kauai hotels earned the largest gain in RevPAR to $168 (+13%) in November, boosted by increases in ADR to $232 (+4.2%) and occupancy at 72.5 percent (+5.6 percentage points).

Hotels on the island of Hawaii achieved the highest rate of growth in occupancy at 73.2 percent, up 10.8 percentage points, in November. This drove the island’s RevPAR growth to $167 (+12.9%), despite the ADR declining to $228 (-3.8%).

Oahu hotels reported a small increase in RevPAR to $180 (+2.3%), with modest growth in occupancy at 82.1 percent (+1.5 percentage points) offsetting flat ADR of $219 (+0.4%). Waikiki hotels performed similarly to last November.

Hotels in Hawaii’s luxury resort areas performed well in November compared to a year ago, with Wailea leading the state in RevPAR to $409 (+13.2%), ADR to $489 (+7.5%), and occupancy at 83.8 percent (+4.2 percentage points ). The Lahaina-Kaanapali-Kapalua resort area reported growth in RevPAR to $194 (+4.4%) and ADR to $258 (+2.6%), with occupancy at 75.1 percent (+1.3 percentage points).

The Kohala Coast resort area reported strong growth in RevPAR to $231 (+8.5%), driven by an increase in occupancy at 69.6 percent (+6 percentage points), which offset a slight dip in ADR to $333 (-0.9%).

Year-to-Date 2017
Year-to-date through November, Hawaii hotels statewide reported growth in RevPAR to $208 (+5.7%), ADR to $259 (+4.2%) and occupancy at 80.2 percent (up 1.1 percentage points).

Through the first 11 months of the year, Luxury Class hotels achieved the strongest overall results of all hotel classes, with increases in RevPAR to $384 (+7.3%), ADR to $506 (+4.8%) and occupancy at 75.7 percent (+1.8 percentage points).

Midscale and Economy Class hotels also reported a strong increase in RevPAR to $117 (+5.8%), supported by growth in ADR to $151 (+3.2%) and occupancy at 77.6 percent (+1.9 percentage points).

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Tables of hotel performance statistics, including data presented in the news release are available for viewing online at: https://www.hawaiitourismauthority.org/research/research/infrastructure-research/

About the Hawaii Hotel Performance Report
The Hawaii Hotel Performance Report is produced using hotel survey data compiled by STR, Inc., the largest survey of its kind in Hawaii. The survey generally excludes properties with under 20 lodging units, such as small bed and breakfasts, youth hostels, single-family vacation rentals, cottages, individually rented vacation condominiums and sold timeshare units no longer available for hotel use. The data has been weighted both geographically and by class of property to compensate for any over and/or under representation of hotel survey participants by location and type. For November 2017, the survey included 165 properties representing 48,788 rooms, or 90.4 percent of all lodging properties with 20 rooms or more in the Hawaiian Islands, including full service, limited service, and condominium hotels.

About the Hawaii Tourism Authority
The Hawaii Tourism Authority is responsible for strategically managing the State of Hawaii’s marketing initiatives to support tourism. HTA’s goal is to optimize tourism’s benefits for Hawaii, while being attentive to the interests of travelers, the community and visitor industry. Established in 1998 to support Hawaii’s leading industry and largest employer, HTA continually strives to help ensure the sustainability of tourism’s success.

For more information about HTA, please visit www.hawaiitourismauthority.org. Follow updates about HTA on Facebook, Twitter (@HawaiiHTA) and its YouTube Channel.

For more information, contact:

Media Contacts:
Charlene Chan
Director of Communications
Hawaii Tourism Authority
(808) 973-2272 (o)
(808) 781-7733 (m)
[email protected]

Jennifer Chun
Director of Tourism Research
Hawaii Tourism Authority
(808) 973-9446 (o)
[email protected]

Patrick Dugan
Senior Vice President
Anthology Marketing Group
(808) 539-3411 (o)
(808) 741-2712 (m)
[email protected]

Erin Kinoshita
Anthology Marketing Group
(808) 539-3428 (o)
(808) 349-3746 (m)
[email protected]